A wireless local area network (WLAN) generally includes one or more Access Points (APs), and several wireless client devices. Such networks work well in small office or home office (SOHO) environments where the number of APs is relatively small. As the number of APs increases, the network becomes unwieldy and difficult to manage. To help alleviate this problem a master controller sometimes referred to as a “wireless switch” can be added to the network. A wireless switch controls some or all of the APs in the network, and data going to or from the APs flow through the wireless switch. Large WLANs can be subdivided into multiple IP (layer 3) subnets. Each subnet can include one or more wireless switches. Each wireless switch has a number of ports which allow the wireless switch to be coupled to APs. Subdividing a WLAN into multiple subnets has several advantages (e.g., containment of broadcast traffic to a single subnet, limiting the effect of failure of network elements to a small network segment, etc.).